Starting Over

"I told you that you would end up back here. Did you listen to me? No. You never listen to me." Why didn't Mothers come with a mute button? Mine was gloating because I had been let go from my job as an investigative reporter, and moved back to the Harlem neighborhood where I grew up. "Randy is married now and you are still single. If you had listened to me...."

She was cut off by a loud police siren. In the city, this was not an unusual occurrence, but since it was racing down our street, it merited a moment of silence. Before she could speak again: "Randy is married to a man, mother."

"Zion Marques was shot. They think his wife did it." My mother's friend yelled out the window to no one. It was uncanny how fast news travelled in this neighborhood.

"That poor man died. But the real tragedy is that my daughter is unemployed and unmarried. What will the neighbors think?"

"I should go talk to the police. Maybe I can cover this story for my blog." It was the best way for me to end the conversation, without strangling the woman who had given me life. Before she could object, I marched out the door. There were police swarming the area, cars were blocking the end of the street that lead to Amsterdam.

"Ma'am, please go back to your house. This is dangerous." The badge he wore identified him as Detective Frank Johnson.

"I'm Kelli Walker--"

"I know who you are, go back inside."

There was no use trying to talk to him. As I walked back to my building, a lanky man ran up to me. "Here's what you need to know. My sister, Ariana did not kill Zion. She's innocent."

"Of course, you'd say that. You're her brother."

"She couldn't have--" He was interrupted by fresh shots being fired. We both dove to the ground.

"Get away from my daughter. Get. Go!" Leave it to my mother to thwart my investigation into this. It was a funny thought, me investigating this murder but it worked well with my true crime blog that I was going to launch. "You stay away from that boy, he's bad news."

My mother was still screaming after me, but I was going to speak to Edna. She would give me the lowdown on what was going on. She answered her door before I finished my first knock. "I knew that you would want to hear everything. I made us some tea."

"Thank you, Mrs.--"

"No worries, dear. So you want to know about Zion and Ariana. The first thing you should know is that she is no ordinary widow. She was cheating on him with every guy in this area. Poor Zion found out that she had slept with his best friend. Rumor is that she was pregnant with his baby. You didn't hear that from me." Edna took a sip of her tea. The police would focus on proving that Ariana was the killer but my instinct told me that she was innocent. Mostly. "Snake, that's the best friend gave her money for the abortion but she didn't want it. His girlfriend found out about their affair and dumped him. I think she moved to the village."

I finished my tea and placed the cup in the sink. "Thank you so much for the tea and the information."

"Just make sure you cite me as anonymous. I don't want people to think I'm a gossip."

On my way down, I called Randy. "Hey you. I know it's been a while but can I stop by?" He agreed readily.

He loved 3 blocks from me. When I got to his place, he was waiting outside. "Hey Girl. I hear you're investigating the Zion murder. Tell me who do you think did it."

"Wow news travels fast here. I think Snake, Zion's best friend might have done it."

"Girl, you do not want to be investigating Snake. He is bad news."

"He's also dead. They just found his body in Ariana and Zion's bedroom." A strange man walked out and put his arms around Randy. "I'm Detective Max George. Randy's husband."

"When did they find the body?"

"Just after the second round of shots. We know that Ariana couldn't have done both but..."

"You investigating Zion's murder?" A tough looking female asked walking up to me. Her hair was hidden by a do-rag and her entire body was covered in tattoos. "I have a problem with you."

She pulled out a long gun. Grabbed me, and placed the barrel just in front of my temple. "I'm just talking to my friend and his husband."

"Why you lying? I know what be going on. Why in the world wasn't Max doing something to save me, this lunatic could take my life at any moment. "Ask me all the questions you want."

"Why did you kill Zion?" The thing you learn as an investigative reporter is to keep them talking. They're bound to tell you what you want to know.

"I didn't mean to. I thought it was Ariana. See she's the pass around girl, all of Snake and Zion's friends have had her. Zion only married her when she told him she was pregnant with his baby and after the wedding the baby was gone. So Zion went and found him a girl on the side and Ariana thought that she could have my Snake. She pulled the same crap and thought Snake was gonna marry her. Nope. Sorry. He's mine."

"If you loved Snake, why kill him?"

"Cause he dumped me. And he was actually going to try and be with her." Max cuffed her and led her to a waiting squad car. Was every mystery going to be this easy?

When I got home, I saw my Mother. "You know Candace Lavender is writing for magazine's not some blog."

Some things never change.